03 May 2019
The Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment publishes advice regarding Memorandum on Scope and Level of Detail Porthos
On May 2nd 2019, the Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) published their advice regarding the Memorandum on Scope and Level of Detail (MSLD) of Porthos. This advice gives clear guidance and further stimulation to start the Environmental Impact Assessment.
NCEA recommends Porthos to map the value chain of CO2 storage, to be used to further focus on the Porthos infrastructure. The Porthos infrastructure entails CO2 transport, compression and storage. In order to give a complete assessment of the environmental impacts, a description about CO2 capture installations and connections to other systems will also be included. As such, Porthos gives substance to the advice of the NCEA to map the value chain of CO2 storage. The project team aims to complete the draft EIA by the end of 2019.
The advice and press release of the NCEA are published on their website (Dutch only).
An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) helps to identify environmental interests and evaluate these factors. Prior to preparing the EIA, a MSLD detailing the EIA requirements is published. The Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment is independent and established by law. They advise on the quality and the content of EIAs. For each project a project group of independent experts is established. This group advises the competent authority, taking into account formal stakeholder comments related to the EIA. Composing the EIA is the responsibility of the initiator(s). In this case it concerns the Minister of Economic Affairs (national embedding plan), Port of Rotterdam authority, Nederlandse Gasunie and Energie Beheer Nederland (permits).
